Retronauts - Retronauts Episode 254: Mega Man 11's Classic Roots

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

Jeremy Parish, Bob Mackey, and Nadia Oxford get equipped with opinions about the latest entry in the Mega Man series and how it upholds the franchise's lengthy legacy. This one's been in the vaults so long that Mega Man 11 is almost retro now!

This week in Retronauts, base continues not to be a fish. Yes, I am shocked, but yes. All right. Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Retronauts. And on this episode, Nadia Oxford is a guest, Nadia. Please explain to us that reference I just made. This is the humiliation you have to endure for being on the show.

This is my passage, my token, that I give to the fairy men. Exactly. I actually, many years ago, wrote fan fiction for Mega Man. And, I mean, I wrote a lot of fan fiction that, like, got me a lot of friends I still talk to. It got me a husband, so I can't complain about it too much, but it is, continues to be really bad, and I am ashamed, but kind of thrilled at how it led me in a way to write for as a career, because fan fiction, even though it can be horrible, it is a good practice for writing. I didn't know you met your husband via fan fiction. Yes, fan fiction, and I ran a Mega Man fan site at the time, and he was like a fan. I feel like that's how I got to know you, too.

So your involvement in Mega Man, the Mega Man community is valuable. And that's why you're here on this episode, because we're going to talk about the latest episode or the latest installment of Mega Man. But first, I'm Jeremy Parrish, co-host of Retronauts and host of this episode. And with me, Opposite. Hey, it's Bob Mackey. I'm terrible at this game. Hey, me too. So bad.

Yeah, wow. So, yeah, Mega Man 11, as of this recording, came out about two months ago. and we wanted to do another one of those episodes where we look at a series that has been around for a long time and say, how has this latest entry, how does it reflect, you know, the legacy of this series? And, boy, that's a great question, really, when you stop and ask about it. So this episode originally was going to be done sort of officially with Capcom.

I was working with PR and the Mega Man Community Manager to put together an episode where, you know, some Capcom folks would come on the show and we talk about, you know, the game and kind of, you know, the roots of it and everything like that. But then the PR person I was working with and the community manager left, like, at the same time,

they left the company. And so the replacements were like, no, let's not do this. The iron curtain came down on retro nuts. You know, I was offended, but ultimately it's okay because it would have been a really awkward episode because now that I finally had a chance to sit down and play Mega Man 11, I really don't like it.

And it would have been me just like sitting here spitting in their faces for a hour and a half. And that's never good. We could have done a Monster Hunter episode after that to make them feel better. Yeah, right, right. Because I love that game. Yeah, right, right. Or something. Or get Alex and Neil on here to do a Resident Evil episode.

I don't know. But yeah, but I am really profoundly disappointed with the Mega Man 11. And I feel like I do need to give it another chance. but I finally had a chance to sit down and really give it some serious time in preparation for this episode. And it's just not what I want at all. And I'm really let down. And I don't feel like it's one of those things where it's like, you know, oh, this game isn't for me. Because I feel like it is supposed to be for me.

And I feel like if I were someone who didn't know Mega Man and came into this game as my introduction to the series, I wouldn't be like, this series is so cool. I'd be like, oh, well, this is kind of generic, and why did it cost so much? And it just seems so cheap, and I don't want to play this anymore. Mega Man's stupid. And then I'd go play as Mega Man and Smash Brothers and be like, why can't it be like that? So anyway, that's my perspective on things. What is your feeling about the game, Nadia? You're more embedded into the Mega Man scene than I am.

So maybe you can see a spark of something that I'm missing. I actually review the game for US Gamer, and I'm kind of the opposite. I really enjoyed it. I know that Cat didn't like it very much, so you might be in good company there, although I think her bias is more like she doesn't like the graphics, which are those 2.5D quote-unquote sprites that they use. But it's funny. I felt like, yes, it was kind of the same and yet quite different

because I gave it a high score because I felt like, okay, this is, there's probably more they could have done with this game in terms of experimentation. Like he could have had the branching paths of Mega Man 6. or, you know, you could have had the dock robot stages you got in Mega Man 3, but in terms of... Or like the good level design of other games? Any other game? I thought the... I enjoyed the level design. Really? Okay. Hmm. Interesting. It's funny that you say that because I felt like, okay, I am making a return to Mega Man.

I have the, you know, you have a classic Ice Stage, for example. I like some of the gimmicks in the stages except for I'll give you... Oh, God. What was the name? Bounce Man? Bounce Man? Bounce fucking man Whoa, Jeremy's dropping F bombs

I hate that stage so much That stage is I was very angry at that stage either Just having There is one room in Bounce Man stage That like I keep getting hug up In this one corner Where you have like no control of yourself

And every YouTube video I have watched People get hung up in that same corner It's just like how is this not caught in testing But okay I don't want to be like super negative Because I don't hate the game It's just that there are some parts of it That are really frustrating

But please keep going What is, what do you feel is the worst gimmick? I didn't like bounce man stage myself, although, you know, who did love it was pro Jared. I was watching him play through Mega Man 11 and he really enjoyed it. And it was like, yay, I'm bouncing around. It's like, okay, dude, you do you. I do not like. Yeah, but I mean, streamers are all like hopped up on Gorana and cocaine and stuff.

That's true. They have to be so full of drugs in order to keep streaming and be on for 14 hours a day that nothing, nothing they say can be trusted. Like, they're in like a hallucinatory state. I say that out of a place of love and concern. Like, hey, you're probably streaming from America, which means you don't have access to affordable health care. You've got to take care of yourself. Red Bulls are healthy.

Get a better coffee can to pee in. At least use a bedpan. I do want to point out that just serious streamers use catheters. That is true. That should be a T-shirt. Serious streamers use catheters. I feel that I want to cut off any sort of feedback at the past here that I want to let people know. It's like, Jeremy and I don't like Mega Man.

So the reason we don't like Mega Man 11 is not because we're bad at games. I just want to say that up front. You're going to hear it anyway. Because I'm going to hear it anyways, but I just, I, people are sometimes offended when you don't like a game because you feel like it's too difficult. And I don't understand that. I mean, all of our skills are different, but I feel like I, I've been playing games long enough. I should be able to beat a video game if I sit down and play it. I finish all the Souls games for Christ's sake.

Yeah, I mean, I have been playing Mega Man since the original game. Yes, you. I have good reflexes for Mega Man. That is, like, one of the series that I'm highly tuned to. And this game just doesn't work the same way that other Mega Man games do. It's like, you know, I had a tough time with Mega Man 9 and 10, but the entire time I was like, yeah, cool, all right. Like, I feel like it's, you know, very, very authentic to Mega Man, but it's challenging me in new ways within that context. But here, like, everything just feels kind of off, and none of my responses and reactions quite work right.

So I end up just kind of slogging through the stages by buying lots of extra lives in e-tanks, which isn't, that's not how I want to play. Like, I want to, I don't know. I watched some streams of people like playing and not taking any damage. And like, yeah, okay, there is something good here, but I haven't been able to access that somehow. Like my Mega Man, my 30 years of Mega Man experience somehow are not helping me with this 30th anniversary Mega Man game. So what's up with that? I don't know. It's funny.

I just fell right into it. even when I was just playing the demo at Pax, I was like, oh, okay, this feels very familiar. And even the woman who was overseeing the booth was like, wow, you're doing really well. Yeah, but they're paid to say that. No offense. Like, they say that to me, too, and I'm like, you're lying through your teeth. God damn it. You're lying, lying.

But, no, I just kind of fell right into it. What difficulty were you playing on? I started with the normal difficulty. I mean, like, you know, the standard. So, yeah, the thing about Mega Man 11 is that it is designed to be kind of, of accessible and I appreciate that. So there are four difficulty levels and the standard difficulty is one notch below the highest. So it's like, you know, it's tuned toward like people who have a lot of experience with Mega Man. So I felt like I should have been able to jump in

and just be like, yeah, crush it. But I didn't. And there are a few things, you know, a few explanations that I have for that. And I'm sure like, again, people will, as Bob said, we'll listen this episode and say, oh, well, you guys just suck. And maybe it's true. Maybe I'm old now, and I'm no longer good at video games. Although, again, my Mega Man reflexes are still great, because Bob watched me tear through Mega Man 2 at

a bar. I was drunk. I was drunk. I destroyed Mega Man 2 without even using a continue. And it was the Japanese version, thank you, it was Rockman, not the American version where normal is, like, baby easy. Yeah, Jeremy knows how to play Mega Man. Yeah, although you have to consider that we have, both you and I

have a great deal of muscle memory for the old games. Mega Man 11, yes, it does feel different, but I don't think that's a bad thing, but continue. Right, again, but like I said, when I jumped into Mega Man 9 and 10, like, that translated right over, and for some reason, it just didn't with me. And maybe, maybe the problem is that I'm playing on Switch, and, you know, the Mega

Man Legacy Collections have a lot of lag. Mega Man X Legacy Collection has a lot of lag on Switch, so maybe Mega Man 11 has lag on Switch, and that's what's killing me? I'm playing it on, and played a different system. I'm playing on PS4, and I'm having the same problems you are, so, who knows? I know I had lag on the demo, but I didn't have any

like it when I played on PS4 and Switch. And I prefer PS4 because I prefer the controller for action games. Me too. I'm using the hoary D-pad so even that's not an excuse. Moving on up in the world, Parrish. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I bought that D-pad specifically for this game. I was like, this is,

I'm not going to play Mega Man without a proper D-pad. Those separated circles. I get why Nintendo did that, but give us a real D-pad, Reggie. Come on. That should have been the reveal instead of Joker. Just kidding. Exactly. We have a D-pad. D-pad smashes in.

That could be a new character. It's later on the notes, but I can talk about my biggest issue with the game, as long as we're just dumping right now. I feel like we've dumped too much at the start. It's okay to like the game. Take a deep breath. Step back. I'm going to play this game some more because, like I said, watching the expert play videos of this, I'm like,

I should be able to do that. So I want to get to a point where I can. can. But I do have like some genuine, objective design issues with the game that I feel like are not just a matter of me being grumpy, but a matter of like, it's the year 2018 and people shouldn't be doing some of these things now. But we'll get into that. And we will talk about the good intentions behind Mega Man 11 because I think it does come from, like I feel like the creator's hearts were in the right place. They just, for whatever reason, didn't quite touch my heart the way that I wanted. And that makes me, that makes me sad in the season of giving

I'm sorry to hear that I'm sorry to hear that Why don't we talk a little bit about kind of like the history of Mega Man games and our own experiences with the series? I feel like, you know, not just to get the bona fides, but just to kind of say, like, what is it we like about these games? So why don't you go first? Why don't you tell us how you first encountered Mega Man? I actually started with Mega Man 3 because I got my NES a little bit later than most people, and I bought a lot of used games. and I saw Mega Man 3 for sale at a store for like $0 practically.

I said, okay, I'll grab that. Yeah, you saw that cover and you were like, man, that robot is shooting the other robot in the crotch. That is cool. That's a winner in my book. I should call him Crotchman. Shot in the crotchman. I fought him, yeah. But, yeah, so I picked that up, and I took it home, and I really, really loved Mega Man 3, of course.

And then I went to Mega Man 4, and then I went to 5, and then I went back to 2. So that was very interesting, because a lot of people, of course, course, they start with two, and they progress from there. I love Mega Man, but the series that's closest to my heart is definitely Mega Man X. And there is a little bit of Mega Man X in 11. Like, there are parts of it, especially like Impact Man's, his power. It's extremely air-dashing. So I can definitely see why a Mega Man X fan would be drawn to 11, for sure. Yeah. It's actually funny because I will just say right out right here, right now,

and condemn myself, I do not find Mega Man 9 very fun. I love Mega Man 9 so much, but okay, it's fair. I'm conflicted about it. I do like it for a lot of reasons, but I also feel like it's, it doesn't really get the point in some ways. Yeah, I was I feel like, okay, go ahead.

Yeah, because I was playing, oh, sorry, Val, I didn't talk over you there. Oh, no, my point's very short. Just like, I feel like it was, um, the point it missed was like Mega Man games were never this difficult, I want to say. That was my overall point. And just like once you get to Wiley stages or whatever, I remember just saying, seeing that,

like, you had to now do like resource management where it's just like you need to use all of these powers in this way. And if you don't, you're kind of screwed. That's just what I remember about the game. And it's been a decade. So I could be a little off. But I just remember like, boy, these games were never really this tough. And that's what I took away from it.

But I did enjoy the spirit of it. Yeah. Okay, well, that's what I enjoyed about Mega Man 9 because I felt like it was a game for people who had been playing Mega Man a long time and it gave you all the same tools, like, you know, the same kind of video game vocabulary, and then kind of like would then twist things against you and upset your expectations. And so as someone who has several Mega Man games just like permanently etched into the circuits of my brain, like you could take a piece of my brain out and use it as a Mega Man ROM in an NES. please don't do that um yeah like to me it was really fun and interesting because it was like i know how everything is supposed to work and then it works a different way and it surprises me but it never felt like cheap but on the other hand i could definitely see where you know if you're not kind of coming at it from that approach from that angle where you would just be like what the hell

is this game this pisses me off so much and i think that's totally fair like i can see what people don't like that game but i i really loved it now i never felt cheap in the way that 11 often feels cheap and fair. Nine, when I died, I knew it was my fault, but I was like, oh, this is really tough. I knew what I had to do. Nine kind of reminds me of the DS remake of Final Fantasy Four, where it's tuned, like, crazy difficult in a way that, again, subvert your expectations

because, you know, that was a game that was designed for people who had played Mega Man, or Final Fantasy Four a million times, and knew how every battle went, knew with all the best strategies. So it was built around those expectations, and then it would do something. thing to counter your common tactics. Like it was created by people who were like, we know how people play these games and we know kind of the patterns they get into. And we're going to use that against them and force them to come up with new strategies and not be able to just coast on things they've been doing for 20 years.

And, you know, that's a dangerous gambit and game design. And I can, again, I can totally understand and respect when people are like, no, that's not cool. But, you know, when it comes to a game that I know. intimately, I find it interesting to have that happen, you know, to have my expectations inverted and used as a weapon against me.

So, like, I really enjoy both of those games kind of on the same level. I never... The thing is, like, I really enjoy Final Fantasy 4 DS because, as you say, it just kind of surprises you, like, for example, the Ant-Lion fight where suddenly the counters,

if the counters work totally different. But the thing about Final Fantasy 4 is, like, okay, you find out what the pattern is, the new pattern is, and you adapt to that. I feel like Mega Man 9, like I was watching Anthony John Nognello play it in a stream recently, and we were talking as he was playing, and he was just dying all over the place, and then you have to, like, go back to start, and it was just, I don't know, as Bob said, it was just, I don't remember Mega Man games being that hard. They weren't.

Yeah, I know, I know, but they just, I don't think, I feel like there's, it wasn't as, like, fun to learn the new patterns. That's what I'm saying, the way it was in 5.004 DS. I didn't give 10 much of a chance, and I'd love to play it. I would play a lot of games, but I wonder if 10 is different than 9 in that respect, if they eased up a bit. Did you guys play 10? Okay. Yeah, 10, I actually came down too hard on 10 in my review of it, for one-up. I was pretty negative on it because it didn't do the surprising things that Mega Man 9 did. I felt like, well, you know, they said, let's do something totally different and surprising with Mega Man 9, let's kick players in the butt.

And then Mega Man 10 was more like, here is, you know, like Mega Man 5 or 6. Like this is a very sort of comfortable, like, you know how everything is going to work kind of game. And it just didn't feel as inspired to me. But in hindsight, I was mean. I was also too hard on Mega Man 8 when it first came out. And now I realized that game is beautiful. And aside from a few sequences that are stupid, jump, jump, jump, slide.

It's a really nicely made game. I wonder if you're going to look back on Mega Man 8. Men 11 and feel the same way. I don't know. I have to give it another chance. Because I don't think there's anything in Mega Man 11 that matches the frustration of jump, jump, jump, freaking slide slide. I disagree.

I feel like the whole game is like patterned after a jump, jump, slide. There are a surprising amount of sequences that do remind me of that, which I found alarming. Like, it's really interesting you say that, Nadia, because as I was playing, like, I kept coming across places where I was like, I really feel like they took the worst parts of Mega Man 8 and we're like, let's do this as a full game. And that was not what I was in this business for, for sure. I actually, I see where you're coming from because I'm trying to remember the name of the fiery fellow was a torchman. He, uh, with the, you're probably thinking of the firewall near the end of the stage.

There's that, but then you also have, um, there's a block man stage. Yeah, he has the, the grinders in block man stage. And then there's like the skull wall in Dr. Wiley's stage. Oh, that's pretty cool. So here's the thing about Megaminer. I mean, they look cool, but it's the same thing every time, and it's, after, like, once, okay, I can deal with that, but then they keep doing it, they keep trotting it out. Well, I think the thing with Mega Man 11, and this is a valid criticism or a compliment to the game, depending on how you look at it, but they really want to to learn how to use that speed gear. And some people, I understand, are going to buck against that, because, of course, that is not part of Mega Man.

That's a very new mechanic, and whether or not you think that belongs there. Like Kat, for example, says she feels like it just breaks up the whole sequence of like a good flowing Mega Man action game. No, it really gets back to the NES days where the game just slowed down. And you were like, oh, I can dodge a little more easily. But, yeah, we can talk about the speed gear and power gear later. But yeah, go ahead. What does Kat say? Oh, she was just saying that, like saying how I don't play a Mega Man game to slow things down, basically.

But again, as you said, on the NES days, that was kind of... Yeah, the NES used to do that for us. Yeah, he used to do that for us. there you go. Yeah, so that is an interesting observation, and I think there is some truth to it, and that's maybe part of my frustration. But, Bob, how did you first come into playing Mega Man games? You're not someone who talks about them a lot, but I know you have experience with them.

Oh, yeah, I think I've finished all of the NES ones except for, like, the first game, because I find that way too difficult. Yeah, it's a bit of a bitch. Especially the Yellow Devil. I've never figured him. I mean, I know it's a pattern, but it's just the pattern I can't get. But I think it was, and if you're of this era, you know what I'm talking about, the Nintendo power spread for Mega Man 2 that got me way into the idea of Mega Man. So I played two first, and then I played one.

I rented it. I mean, because, of course, the Boxer did not let me think I would enjoy it in any way. But, yeah, like three definitely I think I spent the most time with. And after that, I just rented and finished the rest of them. And I was a big fan of X. And after that, I just sort of dabbled in, you know, X2, X3, X4. And, yeah, that's sort of where my love petered out. Of course, I love legends a lot.

That's a way different series, though. But in terms of traditional Mega Man, basically up through the earlier X games, I was a big fan in playing all of them. And I tried playing Zero. Zero was a little too tough for me. Again, I'm a huge baby. Please make fun of me. But, yeah. Zero is more than any other game in the series, even Nine, designed to be just, like, just destroy you.

Yeah. Like, I love those games in theory. and my friends Nick and Chris Daniel they are like super masters at those games I would just watch them play them to be amazed but yeah I that's sort of where it ends for me and I did love eight uh sorry I did love eight

and I did like nine and I wanted to play 10 but uh yeah that's basically my experience I wouldn't call myself a super fan but I do have an affinity for Mega Man and uh I want to say three is probably like I'm most sentimental about three yeah me too so you pass Bob you pass past the test I just like

the robot dog. That was a test. Rush. We had a, my German shepherd was named Rush. Hmm. It's adorable. Did he have a spring on his back? No, although it's funny whenever someone like, whenever we said, our dog was named Rush. And if someone asked that, we knew. You're okay. You're on the phone.

Yeah, I know I've talked about how I played Mega Man, but, you know, I started with the very first one because I was excited by that Nintendo power spread about Mega Man 2, but it was still a few months out. And I was like, I need some of that crack in my veins now. So I managed to find, I think, like, the last copy of the original Mega Man that was on sale in the city I lived in, and it was at like the back corner of a Walden software where no one ever bought NES games. So I bought that despite the terrible box art that had caused me to overlook the game many times and immediately really liked it. And it took me, it was a summer break. So it took me like, I don't know, four or five days to beat it. And I did use the pause trick on the yellow devil for, you know, the first time through. But, you know, I've played that one enough that I can do the yellow devil pattern without cheating now.

So I did like in Mega Man 11 that the yellow devil uses the same pattern. It's like, so my muscle memory actually does work there. That was kind of a nice thing. And this time you have a slide, so you can slide under some of them. So it changes up the rhythm of it a little bit. but yeah like ever since then I have a sickness and I just I play every Mega Man game there's there's a handful that I haven't touched like Super Adventure Rockman for Saturn which was an FMV game done entirely in Japanese and like there was a strategy game in China or something and I think I skipped the star like I played one of the Star Force games but not all of them I mentioned like ZX is that a thing yes okay I play that's yeah those are kind of Metroidvania but not in a great way but yeah like they they the second one was different was yeah they were interesting and weird and enjoyable so I'm glad those existed yeah anyway but yeah so I have played

a lot of Mega Man games through the years and so I came into 11 with you know set expectations and maybe that's working against me maybe that's a big part of why I kind of bounced off the game but again like I just kind of have preconceptions about what Mega Man is. And, you know, that's the challenge of being a fan of something for a long time. Like, you kind of expect certain things. And, you know, it's not like I'm angry about the game because it empowers women or minorities or something. I'm not like a Star Wars fan or something.

Splash Man forever. They're going to call it Mega Person next. Yeah, so, so yeah. It's, there's stuff I like about the game, but I'm a little iffy on it. but yeah we should talk about oh sorry go ahead I was going to say how do you feel about like one thing I really loved about it above Mega Man

9 in particular is how much character the graphics had like Mega Man 9 I feel like going back to what Bob was saying about how Mega Man games weren't this hard I also feel like they weren't that bland looking Mega Man 4 and 5 in particular had some really good backgrounds for the NES and Mega Man 9

just kind of opted for just mostly black stark background I know that's a very small thing to fetch about, but it just, that did kind of great on me back in the day. And so I was glad to see, like, Mega Man 11 had, like, for example, you were fighting that kind of Phoenix boss midway, and you would see in the background, like, MeTools, around a campfire. Like, I thought that was just freaking adorable. Yeah, there's, there are really great backgrounds in Mega Man 11. And one of the things I put in my notes is that I, what is I say, many of the new enemy designs are really good. They have a lot of personality.

And that's something like, you know, if you look at the new Super Mario Brothers series, the new enemies they've created for those games are so insipid and dull. There's like Rorschach test floating around. Yeah, it's like just because you made your major 2D game with polygons doesn't mean it needs to look boring. Like we've moved beyond 1996, folks. It's okay. But they did a really great job of designing entirely new enemies that have a lot of personality. Like, I think my favorite enemies in the game are in Torchman stage.

There's those little mushrooms that walk around with kind of like this frown on their face. And there's their torches also. So they're like setting fire to things. So they have a flame on top of their heads. And for one thing, those are used in an interesting way. Like there's some places where they're used as like obstacles. And there's another place where they're walking below you. So they become like chafing heater, like chafing candles.

So they're like heating up the floor underneath you as they walk. So there's a lot of cleverness about that. But just the design of the mushrooms is so good because they're, they're like grumpy as they walk along. But then if you snuff their flame, their expression changes. And they have like this worried expression like, oh my God, what happened to my fire? Where's my fire? And it's just like there's a lot of personality. Also the spiders that you see in Torchman stage, Acid Man stage, a few other levels.

They have like these little kind of like smiley expressions on their faces. but their faces never invert, but their bodies do. So, like, their bodies rotate around and they spawn little baby spiders. There's just a lot of, like, nice detail that they took advantage of the HD nature of this game. You know, it's the first high-definition Mega Man game, as far as I'm aware.

Yeah. And so it's the first one where they could really get that kind of fine detail in there. And, you know, I do like most of the boss designs. Impact Man is maybe a little too Optimus Prime. I mean, come on, guys. I see what you're going for there. But otherwise, yeah, the boss designs,

generally look pretty good. Did Blockman give you the, you're just another brick in the wall line? He did, yes. Yeah, Mega Man comes off as sort of bland in this game. Yeah, he himself is like, I don't know, like the boring teenager who probably has a, you know, all the merit badges from Boy Scouts. Aw. Nothing wrong with, you know, nothing wrong with that. Yeah.

But, yeah, he's just a little too do-goody. Megan Man 7 had him nearly shoot Wiley You'd go back to that Yeah like You know I I like all the individual components of the game But I don't feel like the visuals mesh together really well You have these like really cool backgrounds

And pretty nicely designed foregrounds But it all seems kind of like I don't know It doesn't quite mesh There's just something about it that doesn't look quite right And maybe it's like the very mediocre cell shading on a lot of things. Mega Man himself is really not great-looking.

Like his animation and his movement, his model, not good. Maybe that's what I'm kind of rejecting. It's just his look. I'm just going to say, I didn't notice anything wrong with it, but maybe that's my bias. I have no idea.

I'm just like, oh, Mega Man, hooray. Yeah, I don't know. He doesn't have the personality that I expect from Mega Man. It does feel like the enemies are of a different style than the backgrounds. They don't really,

they don't really like stick together very well. But I do like the backgrounds because there is a lot of narrative in them that you got from, like, you know, the very early Mega Man games, and they kind of got away from in subsequent games. Like, Blast Man stage is really interesting. It's like, so is that like a theme park based around Blast Man that then he blew up? That kind of seems to be what it is. Like, it's very interesting. And it does, like, the game doesn't answer. Like, it doesn't offer any explanation of it, which I think makes things more interesting.

you're like, what is happening back there? And, yeah, the camping theme of Torchman Stage is interesting because that's not really what you expect from a Mega Man game. It's like Mega Man is just messing up some campers. Like, you know, he's like Spoky the Bear gone wrong. And then Blockman stage, there's like a robo-Aztec temple back there, Mayan Temple. So you start to wonder what is the story for Mega Man's world? Like, this is clearly not happening in the real world.

Like, there's, there's some sort of like ancient, ancient, you know, native American civilization that had access to robots or something. So what's happening? So you just kind of, I don't know, like the visual detail in this game really, I don't know if there's actually any deliberate design purpose to it. But it is intriguing. And that's something I appreciate. The theme is really good. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So anyway, like, I like a lot of the elements of the game. It's just, it doesn't quite come together for me. But. Yes. Anyway, so talking a little bit about Mega Man 11, like this game was designed internally by Capcom, right? Yes. Okay.

What was it to create's doing? I don't know if they're friends with Mega Man anymore. Oh, what's that? I don't know if they're friends with with Capcom anymore. They're not working on Bloodstain anymore, too, right? Did I hear that correctly? They, yeah, they were replaced by Way Forward, apparently. Interesting, huh.

Okay, I knew about Way Forward, but I know they had been, like, outright replaced. I guess they would be. I don't know. Is Intecreate? do they do anything with Capcom anymore? Not to my knowledge. The last thing I know of them doing was Curse of the Moon, which was fantastic.

Right, but that wasn't with Capcom. No, no, of course not. Yeah, I mean, they still make games. It's just, I don't think they do the contract work with Capcom anymore, so I'm not sure what's happening there. Maybe they were, like, connected through Inafune or something, and once he left, they were like, well, I don't know. We're going to go over here now.

Something like that. Anyway, so, yeah, it's a, It's an internally developed Capcom project as opposed to being outsourced or something. So, yeah, it's good that Capcom still has internal teams that aren't just working on mobile games or Monster Hunter. I say more Monster Hunter. Yeah, well, Monster Hunter's fine. It's just like it kind of seems like that became all Capcom was doing for a while. They really went heavy on the outsourcing, especially to Western Studios last gen.

So you kind of would expect, like, Mega Man 11 would be made by an external team, but it was not. Well, I guess there's no more Capcom, Vancouver. Right. It's too bad. Yeah. So it was released in October of 2018 and basically published on everything. Yeah. All three platform, like console platforms plus PC. Am I missing anything?

There's not like a 3DS or mobile port. No, no. Nothing to not deliver on, hint, hint. Wait, say again? Just thinking of Mighty Number Nine and waiting on that video. Where's my Wii U version? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the spectra of Mighty Number 9 definitely hangs over Mega Man at this point

because that was supposed to be like, well, Capcom's not going to make Mega Man, but Inafune well, and then it turned out not to be so great. And that was IntoCreates. So maybe that was like the bridge burning there. But, yeah, Mighty Number 9 did not turn out well. And I will say Mega Man 11 is better than that. But I feel like it should have been vastly better than that. I think it was vastly better than 90 number 9 because my number 9 was just, I was so disappointed in that game.

I was just like, I cannot believe how much fun I am not having with Mighty Number 9 now. Well, you know, the dash system in that game where you had to like kill something and then like dash into it to, you know, build up a charge or whatever, that kind of reminds me a little bit of the double gear system in Mega Man 11 just because it's like, here. is an extraneous gimmick that we have added to change up the play mechanics and force you to play a different way. I will say double gear works better because it is more optional. Like you don't have to use double gear. It makes the game harder if you don't, but it's there. That's kind of what I don't like about it. I wish, so as bad as Mighty Number 9 is, I like that at least has a system the game is based around.

In Mega Man 11, I don't like that that system is optional because I feel like I forget that it exists and it doesn't feel like integrated very well where like so they're definitely doing a platinum games thing the developer platinum games in that there is a time slowing down system which is lots of fun in an action game but it's not activated based on you doing something skillful just like I'll turn it on now

and I feel like it just feels like a switch you're turning on doesn't feel like you're doing it in the game doesn't feel like your character is doing it just like I'm going to flip the switch now and now things are slower it just it never feels natural like it does when you go like into which time in bayonetta or any of the other

other platinum games. Like every platinum game where you slow down time. I feel like that kind of mechanic works a little more fluidly in a 3D action setting because 2D and 3D games just work differently. Like 2D is crisper, faster, more responsive. 3D games, there is more, it's just, it moves at a different pace and there is more, I think, forgiveness built into it. So that's true, but I think Beautiful Joe was 2D and it did a lot of this sort of thing way better. I never got to play it. That's true.

And even in that game, it was sort of a switch, but it was necessary to play the game with the various abilities, I feel like. And Beautiful Joe is a hard game. I forget about Beautiful Joe. But yeah, that was kind of like the sort of the genesis, like the primal ooze

of everything that is platinum now. Like so many of their ideas came from that game back when they were Clover. Time for an episode about Beautiful Joe. Yeah, totally. Absolutely. Okay, this episode is now about Beautiful Joe. And I've never finished it.

It's also too hard. No. So, yeah, the interesting thing about Mega Man 11 is that I noticed it's built on the MT Framework, which, you know, Kiji Inafune was in charge of designing, or like, you know, not in charge of designing, but was like the guy who commissioned it, the executive who was like, here, let's make this project happen. And MT Framework was designed mostly for 3D games. It was used in Lost Planet 2, and I want to say it was used in Dead Rising. I think, yeah, Dead Rising was the first, like, built, them showing off.

Maybe Dead Rising, too. But it was also built, he told me one time, with Mega Man Legends 3 in mind. That was one of the things he wanted to do with MT Framework. And that didn't happen, but we did finally get a Mega Man game on the MT Framework, and that is Mega Man 11, which, as I mentioned, is the first HD Mega Man game. It's the first game to not only have HD resolution, but also to be a widescreen game. I think that is a big issue with the game is that it does have like the full field view of a widescreen game, which it's the first time in a Mega Man game that that's happened.

And that does change the dynamic of a 2D game. That's a good point. I never thought of that, but you're absolutely right. I think that like it does make a difference to how it plays. and I'm not sure that they quite spent enough time thinking through the ramifications of that and I think it was the right choice to go that direction it would be weird to get an HD game

like a 1080P game that was designed for a 4-3 ratio that would have been stupid and bad so it's good that they didn't do that but it does change up the nature of the game and makes it different than previous Mega Man games but I think the most important thing like you mentioned before is the double gear system That is the big design change for this game.

And, you know, I think a lot of Mega Man games are kind of built around some sort of design. Like, they're designed around some sort of novel system. So, like, Mega Man 6, you had the Rush adapter or whatever it was where you could, like, find parts and Mega Man could eventually use a jetpack. Mega Man 3, you know, like the big innovation was Rush. Mega Man 4, it was the charge shot or the buster. whatever, Mega Buster. Mega Man 8, it was that stupid kickball thing. I don't know what they were doing there.

Forgetting Mega Man's Bird. Yep. Mega Man, the bird was, Beat was in Five, right? Yeah. Although he wasn't really designed, that game wasn't really designed around Beat. No. It was just something they added in. But like there are sometimes, some Mega Man games, like half of them I would say,

are designed around some sort of new invention. Like there is an element of the game that is very conspicuously woven into the fabric of the entire play experience. But I would say that more than anything since the Megabuster and Mega Man 4, the double-gear system is really like extremely, like the gameplay is really sort of built around it. It's like predicated on the fact that everything is going to be easier if you understand how to use the double-gear system.

Right. So that's actually a good comparison with the Megabuster because it is very much a system that completely changes what the game is about because like we were talking about beat doesn't really do much of anything rush is yes it's designed to be in the game but uh i feel like you know not every element of the level was really designed around him but uh yeah you're right uh the double gear system is very much kind of like is comparable to the charge shot in that regard yeah i i really don't like how they did not commit to it i can see the anxieties over the the decision they may where it's like we want to make a mega man game but also we don't want to change things too much so right this system just sort of sits around in the background. And like, I don't want to repeat myself over and over, but I really wish this game was just like, you have to use these skills constantly. You have to activate them by playing well and then use them in these specific situations. I wanted the game to be more designed around that. But I feel like they wanted to, like, appeal to both Mega Man fans and newcomers who kind of need, like, a booster seat for the games. Yeah, I think, I think these games and their derivatives try to do that a lot. and I think it fails more often than not. Like, I'm thinking of Azure Striker Gunvolt.

And that has some kind of similar systems. It's been a while since I played Gunvolt, so I can't remember the exact specifics, I'm sorry, because it just occurred to me to make this comparison. But, like, that series is almost good, but just feels like it's missing something. Some element to really make the innovative mechanic that it includes, which involves, like, zapping stuff.

I can't remember. I feel like it doesn't quite work like it had it, like they intended for it too. And I want to like those games more than I do. I think they're good, but I think they could be great. But kind of like with the double gear system, it just isn't quite there. And they just need to take another pass at it. And that's the secret, I guess, is like more time, more time, take more time. Yeah, and I mean, God, how long they have with Mega Man 11, like 10 years or something like that.

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't actually in. development for 10 years. Yeah, yeah. I think they started on it around. Well, I think Catcom is finally realizing that people care about Mega Man for a long time to hear the tittle-tattle behind the scenes. They just figured nobody cared about Mega Man anymore. And I'm like, no, no, we care. And it's like, what's that? What's coming from the West? And we don't care. Yeah, I'm wondering how much Smash Brothers had to do with that. You know, Mega Man made his debut in Smash Brothers 4. And that was four years ago? Was it four years or who or five? 2013, 2014, yeah. So, yeah. That would be,

that would be enough time for Capcom to see the feedback from Smash Bros. And say, oh, wait, what Capcom USA has been telling us that people like Mega Man, that's actually correct. Who knew? And we are all old people, and we don't really understand, I think, that they need to increase Mega Man awareness for younger people. Because really the last Mega Man game was not, sorry, it was 10, right? That was 2011, I want to say. Yeah, so you could be a child. you could have been born that year

and now you could be like who is Mega Man this looks cool like what is this you could have totally missed like nine and be a thing walking around with a brain and language and fingers to play video games with yeah I mean I have nephews who are you know they were born in like 2010

2009 and they knew who Mega Man is because of Smash Brothers like they they have never played a Mega Man game or had never played them until I was like play this but they were aware of Mega Man so when they saw me playing an old Mega Man game on NES. They were like, wow, it's like Mega Man

meets Minecraft, because when they see pixel graphics, they're like Minecraft. So it was actually very easy to make them, you know, to encourage them to play this game. They were like, oh, it's two things that I love together. That's neat. I want to play this. Oh, it's really hard. What? But, you know, the hook was there.

So I'm glad Capcom finally said, let's seize on that. And I feel like Mega Man 11's fortunes can't be hurt by the fact that Smash Ultimate, you know, launched two months later, and Mega Man is in there. Although he, you know, is like one tiny little box on the character select screen along with 75 other tiny little boxes.

But he's there. He is there. He might show up at some point, and people will see him and be like, tell me more of this Mega Man. So this is related to what we're talking about, but did either of you, Nottie or Jeremy, play the 2014 Strider game? Yeah, yeah. Because this is the same director. Oh, okay. And I'm looking at some of the stuff he's made.

And a lot of things I know. So this is definitely. Jeremy wants, you should know about this, Jeremy. He was the project coordinator for Ultimate Goals, Ghost and Goblins. You know, I made that comparison in my notes. One of your favorite games. Not in a flattering way. But yeah, it's funny.

It's that in common. Also, director of Resident Evil Zero, which is not a great game, but he worked with what he had. So I'm not saying this guy sucks or anything, but I'm just saying it's interesting to see, like, what he's worked on before and how that might, like, make you think about what his design trends are. I mean, what was that Stryder game like? Do you see anything in common with this game? I mean, the Strider game was basically an attempt to take the NES game and make it into something better. Like, the NES game was an exploratory platformer, Metroidvania-ish kind of thing.

But it was really just like not, it felt like it wasn't finished. It was very rough. It was surprisingly rough for a Capcom game of the time that it came out because they were so polished at that point. And then this one was like, it's on a cartridge and it has loading times. Wow. Yeah. That is bizarre.

It's kind of a mess. But there was a good intent behind it. The controls were bad. So I feel like Strider 2014 was an attempt to kind of revisit that concept and give people a proper exploratory strider platform. And it was okay. It has some issues. Like there are some quality of life things that are just such blatant oversights. I don't know what they were thinking.

Like, there is no fast travel system within the game, the game, no teleport or anything. So by the end, you have this massive open world that you're running around and to get anywhere, you have to trek it, you know, on foot from one side of the world to the other. And that sucks. And that's just like such a basic thing. I mean, you've played symphony night, folks. Or even, you know, Metroid 3, Super Metroid, it didn't have a teleport system, but it created these interlinks between its areas.

So it was actually really fast and easy to get from one. one place to another. So, yeah, actually knowing that he has been in charge of Capcom's other sort of notable 2.5D games does explain a lot because it does give me kind of a similar sensation to playing Ultimate Ghost and Goblins or Ultimate Goals and Ghost, whatever it is, and a little bit of Strider. Like, it's kind of floaty. It's not as responsive as I like.

One of the big problems I have with Mega Man 11 is that it has all these, like, explosion effects and weapon effects and stuff like. that and they tend to obscure the action like it's just such a basic thing you know people have been adding distracting light effects to games ever since we went 3d um and like at this point you know it's neat to have bright lights and explosions and stuff but it's also important to be able to see like the enemy you're shooting at that you know is is is in wreathed in explosions what's it doing right now what is it's animation going to be like there are tells that the characters have built into their animations, and I can't see those tells because my explosions are obscuring

their animation, like obscuring the target. And that's just such a foundational, basic, fundamental thing that should not be an issue in games anymore. And here is Mega Man 11. You know, an internally developed game from Capcom by an experienced director still doing it, and it kills me. I'm like, come on, you should know better than this by now. And, you know, I'm sitting here from the outside. I've never made a video game. So, it's easy for me to say, oh, you guys did it wrong, but I still feel like there are just some things that, you know, over time we have seen, hey, this isn't good, and maybe let's ease back on that, or let's find a way to make it work better. And this game doesn't do that. And it's very frustrating. Like, I feel like there are some fundamental issues. This is pretty funny. His first directorial role was sort of another weird kind of throwback. It was a mighty final fights. Oh, I love that game. Maybe like a throw forward. I don't know what you would call that.

but he's kind of been doing the same thing for Capcom for a long time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a cute game. Yeah. I mean,

kind of like It'sono, you know, was, I guess he's working on Devil May Cry now, which is kind of a change. But up until that point, he was just like the fighting brawling guy. No, not It's Ano. What is Ono working on now? Ono.

Yoshinori Ono. He was the street fighter guy, but he... It's a Dragon's Dogman Devil May Cry, right? Yeah, he's working on Devil May Cry. We got a little mixed up there. Oh, no, I'm not sure what he's working on besides, like, retro compilations, but, you know, he, you know, did Street Fighter 4 and 5, and before that he had worked on all these brawlers, like that brawler collection was a project that he put together, because all the games that were in that collection were by him. And it's a pretty weird collection of games, like battle, what is it called?

I can't remember. It's like a weird sort of futuristic game, almost kind of power. Powerstone-ish in nature. Oh, I know you're talking about, but I can't remember the first name. Yeah, it's like super weird. And then there's Captain Commando, which is also super weird. But then there's, you know, the D&D games. Well, actually, no, those aren't in that collection.

But I don't know. Is that like Shadows over Mistara and whatnot? Yeah, that's not in that collection. To answer your question, Ono. I'm getting all mixed up. Don't listen to me. I'm going to stop talking. I don't like leaving lingering questions on podcast.

So to answer your question, Ono is working on the totally real and totally will come out one-day game deep down. Okay. I remember playing a demo or singing. a demo of that in like 2013. There was actually a demo of it. God, I forgot about that. I thought there was a CGI trailer. No, I want to say that

yeah, there was a, maybe my memories are failing on me, but I feel like there was a very small demo that I played, and it would have been for U.S. gamers, so you should look that up. Yeah. Yeah, anyway, this is a total sidebar. Capcom, everyone. But the important thing is, like, Capcom does have

some veteran developers who have been kind of hoeing the same row for a long time. And what's the name of the guy who did 11? The director of Mega Man 11 is Koji Oda. Okay. Yeah. So deep down, I played a playable demo for PS4 in 2013 at TGS, and I wrote about it. And they definitely had some Dark Souls envy going on, according to my preview.

Anyway, I think maybe, like, I'm clearly, like, low on brain oxygen, so I think we should take a quick break and reconvene and maybe I'll start making more sense. Excellent. Let's do that. And we're going to get it to be able to be. And so we're back. And, you know, it occurred to me, Nadia, I started having you explain what the double-year system is, and then we didn't actually explain it. Double gear. That was going to be my intro, and I forgot about it.

it. I apologize. Sorry, I decided to embarrass Nottie instead of making a Metal Gear joke. That's more of a Jeremy joke. That was a pretty good intro, though. Ah, thanks. Anyway, so, yeah, why did you tell us about double gear? Double gear? What actually is it?

Like, we've talked about it and how it's good and bad, but we haven't actually said, like, here's what it is. So I'm going to lead that to you, Nadia. Well, in a very basic term, you have the power gear and the speed gear, and you can activate either or at any time, but you have an energy bar that's pleats as you use them. And if you activate the speed gear, time slows down to kind of a matrixe NES speed. And that helps you dodge things, especially if you get the upgrade that lets you move normally as the speed gear is activated. And the power gear, which I probably never use very much, actually just like pours a whole lot of power, as the name suggests, into your shots and the special weapons you use against bosses. And you can also trigger both at the same time if you

really want to like just go all out but i don't think i ever did that very much either i mostly used the speed gear uh for um just to get around tricky parts uh the interesting thing though about the speed gear and the power gear is that they factor into the game story quite a bit and and fuel a rivalry between dr light and and uh dr wiley which i was just like making uh protamine jokes the whole time until my husband told me to stop it yeah i um i definitely wanted to talk about that because the double-gear system is more than just like a gameplay gimmick. It's the first time, I feel like the classic Mega Man games have attempted to really talk about the backstory between Light and Wiley. And, you know, they definitely have explored that in the Battle Network alternate universe.

The idea was that Wiley there, I think, wanted to go into robotics and, Light was like, no, AI. So it became like this rivalry. And I feel like they sort of took that element of battle network and finally said, why don't we use this to explain sort of the rivalry between Light and Wiley in this universe. And I feel like it's a little late to finally say, oh, here's what's the deal with Dr. Wiley. But basically he wanted to come up with a system that would make robots stronger and faster. And Dr. Wiley or Dr. Light wanted to make a system that would make robots able to,

to make their own decisions and smarter. Right, which is a nice nod to X. Yes. But I mean, at the end of the game, they basically, like, spoilers here for the ending, but they basically say, like, well, Mega Man embodies both of these. He can make his own decisions,

and also he kicks ass. So, you know, this is what you were after the whole time, Wiley, which I think is a little weird because it's like, well, didn't, like, base and treble exist? What about King? Like, hasn't Wiley already kind of done this thing? but I guess continuity is not necessarily

don't go looking for a solid continuity in the Mega Man games it's just widely does anything bad and Mega Man has to stop him every time Yeah I appreciate that they gave us something and the fact that we get to see young Dr. Light

with his magnificent head of hair and the beginnings of that beard of his like I like that sort of thing even though yes as you say it is a bit late but given how it's been 11 or 10 years since the last Mega Man game I don't really begrudge them for saying okay here's what's up

up you guys. Right. And, you know, on top of that, in addition to that being baked into the story and being a key mechanic for Mega Man himself, it's also, it also factors into the robot master fights. And it really changes up the nature of the robot master fights. And that's something I actually think is really good. Like, the robot master battles can be kind of extremely challenging if you don't have the right weapons in this game. But there... Yeah, it can be quite intense. But the idea is that you know once you've done a certain amount of damage to a robot master it's like all right i'm taking off the stops and it will use either speed gear or power gear like each each boss has its own preference uh and so they'll have like a second phase to the battle and you have to overcome

that and it's a much harder phase it does feel kind of like an into creates thing actually like intercrates boss battles almost always like you get to the halfway point and they're like okay now i'm going to fight for serious and they kind of do the same thing here but it's more like the battle works and thirds. So you have the power or speedgears phase. And then once you kind of overcome that, there's like a final sort of post-script phase where you have to beat sort of the original boss patterns, but harder. Yeah, like I'm thinking back to Blockman. Yeah, he's the best example. He's the best example because he starts off kind of normal. Then he morphs him to that huge brick guy, which is really cool. And then he loses it when he loses his final form and like

starts screaming, I won't lose, I won't lose. And he starts just hurling brook. at you and huge speed. Yeah, that final phase, I thought, was actually the hardest part until I realized you can actually run along top of the bricks that he's throwing. You can? Yeah. I didn't know that. I didn't realize either.

But then I was watching YouTube videos, and I was like, wait, what? How is that possible? That's great. I think as we get, like, more and more away from Mega Men 11, we're going to find a lot of people finding weird tricks that make you say, what the hell I could do that? Beat Mega Man 11 with this one weird trick. Doctors hate it. All right. So, you know, we've talked about Mega Man 11 good and bad for a while. But now I think it's time to open up the floor to our listeners. I put out a call on Retronauts.com and via Twitter for people to submit emails or leave comments about Mega Man 11. So before we get into the kind of the final breakdown of this game, I would like for you, the people who listen to and enjoy Retronauts to tell us what you think about the game. So Bob and I are going to alternate. I've got a bunch of emails here.

and he's got comments on the website. Okay. So we'll just take some turns, and I'll go first. We're going to read them to you now. From Juan Barragas. When it was announced, I looked forward to Mega Man 11. I've been enamored with the Blue Bomber ever since my early childhood and hoped it would not repeat the same mistakes as his last comeback in Mega Man 9.

which relied too much on cheap deaths and wrote memorization in my opinion Mega Man 10 was much better I downloaded the demo off the switch e-shop as soon as it was available and was met with utter disappointment where do I begin? Normal enemies are damage sponges

block man stage is way too long the block patterns and attacks are too cheap was I doing it wrong? I tried lowering the difficulty and relying more on Mega Man's new double gear system but it didn't really address any of the concerns I had It reminded me a lot of how Metroid Samus Returns felt, an admirable attempt, but bloated and missing the point in some way. I might pick it up on sale, but that first impression left a lot to be desired.

That's a totally valid opinion, but at the same time, it's kind of like, okay, I've been thinking of that guy and The Simpsons who was like, so you want a realistic show about magic robots. If you don't like Mega Man 9 and you don't like Mega Man 10, you don't like Mega Man 11, I don't know, I don't really know what you want, I'm sorry. Battle Network? Maybe. Mega Man Legend 3? That's a good series. Chip challenge. I'll read Blargs because he agrees with me.

Well, not perfect. I think Mega Man 11 was a good effort after the series long hiatus. Vibrant visuals drew me into each stage and the level design is mostly excellent. The gear system added a nice twist to standard Mega Man gameplay. However, it wasn't enough to prevent me

from becoming frustrated with a few difficult sections, particularly the flaming walls and Torchman stage. And yes, I totally agree with Blarg there. Worse, checkpoints on normal difficulty, we're spaced a little too far apart, forcing me to repeat long stretches. Eventually, I bought up a bunch of lives in the shop so I could brute force my way through stages. The robot masters are overflowing with personality, spouting hilariously bad one-liners.

My favorite is acid man who cries chemistry upon defeat. I thought he's, for me, he shouted, oh, acid, or no, he says, like, acid, so it's kind of like, ah, shit. Oh, really? Wow. And then Blar, I finish this up by saying, I hope Capcom builds on what they created here. And that's something we didn't talk about. I hate, it is traditional, but I hate the live system in this game.

I want to talk about this one here, for sure. Actually, why don't we talk about it now? Let's do it now. Yeah, it sucks. To me, there is a big shadow looming over Mega Man 11, and that is Shovel Night. Because Shovel Night took Mega Man and said, let's modernize it. So it gave it, you know, retro graphics, but added in a lot of new gameplay ideas. now shovel night did one thing that I think was really bad and it frustrates me when I play it

and that is its levels are so goddamn long they just drag on and on each level is basically has the exact same problem but the thing is it works in shovel night more so than Mega Man 11 because they came up with a really innovative checkpoint system where you don't have lives like you can keep dying as many times as you want and then you have all these optional checkpoints through the stage. You can either use the checkpoint and then every time you die, you'll restart from there. So you don't have to fight through like the entire stage if you run out of lives and after, after you beat the, or reach the boss. But you don't have to use the checkpoints. If you want more of a challenge, you can destroy them and you'll get a bonus for

it. But it means if you die, if you screw up, then you get sent way back. So there's like this sort of player agency to Shovel Knight that, you know, they took away the live system altogether. So, like, that is a huge frustration of Mega Man 11, because the levels, the stages are so long. And if you make it to the boss and you can't beat the boss on your first go and you run out of, like, you know, you run out of lives, then you have to do all of that all over again. And it's not fun. It's tedious. And I hate that the restart option is labeled continue. Like a continue.

Okay, sure. Oh, I'm at the beginning again. Yeah. That's the Mega Man way, unfortunately. Yeah. So, like, it's like they said, let's take the worst thing about Shovel Night, because. because people really love that game and treat it like a new Mega Man,

so we should learn something from it. Let's learn what they did wrong and then not include any of the things they did right to help mitigate that bad design decision. And so you end up with Mega Man 11 stages that are two or three times as long as the stages in Mega Man, one, two, three. Like, those games had really short levels.

You can clear, like, a stage in Mega Man too in like two to three minutes. No problem. But here the stages are like eight, nine, ten minutes long if you know everything to do. like if you're good at playing through them and they can take even longer to complete if you struggle with it and I just don't want to play through

10 minutes of you know dealing with cheap gimmicks and things like that every time I die to a boss like to me that was a huge deterrent and it just feels really dated I really hope that I was okay with the stage length

but I understand the complaints I really hope that we see something more like in the vein of Mega Man 3 with Mega Man 12 in that you have shorter stages but you have more of them you kind of have that twist at the end which is like oh here's doc robot you have the opposite of that here yeah

because there are like two Dr. Wiley stages and then you have the showdowns that's it yeah I was like really where are the rest of the stages what happened to like Dr. Wiley stage three and four because usually you have like you know four bosses along the way each in its own stage and then you have the showdown

and then you have the rematches with the Robot Masters and then Dr. Wiley and you don't get that here So it's... Yeah, fortunately. Yeah, it just feels like they should have rebalanced the length of stages. Like, more smaller stages are better, in my opinion. It just, like, a big problem I had with the stage design is that every stage feels like it's twice as long as it should be.

Oh, yeah. And every stage's second half is just, like, the first half, but harder. So it's, like, I get the whole idea of, like, here's a challenge. Okay, now here's a challenge, but it's more difficult. but it's so, it's like such literal copy and paste that it just feels like, oh, I've already done this, but now it's more annoying. So, yeah, I don't know. Like, I, that is really like a huge black market against this game in my book.

It's just like the drawn out kind of repetitive level design, especially, you know, if you have to go back and restart, it's just like this again. God, I don't want to do this again. By the time you make it to the boss, you're just too just worn down to even stand a chance to like, well, this is going to be another dry. run. And I know that, like, that was cool in games a long time ago, but this is also 2018. This is a new game.

And I feel like they should have made some concessions for people living in the present. Well, they gave you the auto shop where you can load up on lives and eat tanks to brute force. But, yeah, like, it was always, you know, disappointing to get to a boss in Mega Man and early NES Mega Man and lose and have to do the stage over again. But again, the stages there lasted like three minutes. So it was just quick and painless, really, to get back. Not so much this time. Anyway, I didn't mean to rant there, but that is, like, one of my big complaints in terms of design with this game. I never thought of shovel night.

That's a great point. And you can't judge these things in a vacuum. I'm sorry, Nadia. I just like the idea of giving players that agency, and I think Bank of Man 11, you're right. It could have benefited from something like that. Yeah, I mean, if you guys are going to, like, take impression, you know, take inspiration from someone who's inspired by you, there's nothing wrong with that. Just be sure to be holistic about it instead of just, like, copying the weird bad. parts. I don't know.

Anyway, so in stark contrast to all of my screaming and ranting, here is Matt Natsis with Mega Man 11 thoughts. I couldn't have been more excited for the release of Mega Man 11. From Mega Man's inclusion in Super Smash Brothers to the Mega Man Collection games, I'd been yearning for a

return to the classic series, and Mega Man 11 did not disappoint. They successfully walked that tight rope of making the game feel both classic and also an evolution in the series. I was especially impressed by how they designed the double-gear system to be a great help, but not technically a requirement, should someone want to tackle the game truly old school? The new robot masters were all great,

though I do wish Mega Man 9's Splash Woman had inspired more female-coded robot masters. Tundra Man was my favorite, an Arctic work robot who instead chose to become a figure skater. That's perfect for that world. Side note, I completely agree. I love that character. I think he's great. Yeah, he's pretty awesome. Mega Man 11 was exactly what I was hoping it would be, and I hope this means a long-lasting return for the Blue Bomber and crew. That is true. Splashwoman broke through the robot ceiling

and Mega Man 9? Was there a female robot in Penn? Wow, what the hell? No, there wasn't. The Sheetman, though. Sheetman was pretty cool. That was cool, but not female. I love sheet man.

Here's more positivity. So Razzie Luigi says, Mega Man 11 was a solid return after such a long absence and showed that the franchise can still be relevant without necessarily using ape and nostalgia as a crutch.

The levels were punchy and creative and the robot masters were nicely conceived. Quality of life additions, like Insta-Somining Rush and using the joystick to quickly select weapons, feel like the right direction for the series. That said, I hope this is the last we see of the double-gear mechanic. It may have been fine as a boss weapon a la Flashman's Time Stopper, but as an ability that pervades the entire game, it had way too much impact on the level design.

Torchman's firewalls and block man's irritating crates and conveyor belts were clearly intended to nudge the player towards slowing time, which made them feel cheap rather than challenging. Overall, though, it's one of my favorite games of the year. I hope it heralds a new lease on life for one of my favorite series and all of gaming and maybe we'll get better music next time. Yeah, the music is not great in this game. It's okay, but the worst...

It's okay. The worst is Bounce Man, which is fitting because that's also the worst stage in Mega Man ever. But, yeah, like, I was complaining earlier that the game is not designed around the system. Like, a few tiny moments are, and that's why it just feels so off to me. Just like, okay, this is where I'm using it now.

This is where I have to think about this thing that I have that I just sort of is sitting in the background. But yeah, I agree with Razzie Luigi on a few things. Like, I do hope they either develop the double-gear mechanic or just take it out for the next game. All right. Here's one from Jared Natsis. I don't know if he's any relation to Matt Natsis. Both of them gave their locations.

Matt says he's from Livermore, California, and Jared says he's from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But it's also kind of weird that two people gave their locations, which doesn't usually happen. I'm on to you, Natsus family. You guys are double-dipping. Because I said 200 words. Now you've given me 400. All right. From Jared Natsus.

I think Mega Man 11 is exactly what the series needed right now. Nine and 10 are excellent games, but their retro throwback style gives them an automatic distinction of being niche. Another game in that vein would have been tired and overlooked, like 10 already was. But 11 moves the classic series forward in a way that hasn't happened since 8, and is a far better game than, eight, in my opinion, though eight is still good. There's a lot I could say about why I love this game, but I want to focus on the music. I've seen the criticism that Mega Man 11's

soundtrack is too generic or just plain EDM, or just bland EDM, I disagree. I've listened to the soundtrack several times while doing work, and there's some standout tracks that fit well in the Mega Man Music Pantheon. To me, the OST still has a Mega Man's spirit while also sounding new and exciting.

All right, this guy's trolling. My personal favorite tracks are Bounce Man. I love Major Mega Man level themes. Major key Mega Man level themes. Acid Man, totally unique Mega Man music, sinister, but singable, and Fuse Man just punches you in the face with sound in a good way. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the OST and how it compares. It stinks.

Wow. I wouldn't go to that. No, I was just doing the Pod People thing. It's not terrible. I just think it didn't stand out. It sounds about Dragon Quest of Lubbins. Oh, God, yeah. That's a new low, though.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. I can play all the scales. and make it into a town theme. Let me get my recorder. Here's another comment from Jux Salble, Salby. I guess, I don't know. Let us know in the comments. And we'll say it right next time.

But overall, I thought they did a good job making a Mega Man game that looks new and has new features. But still kind of plays like you're used to by the classic series. It's a bit closer to seven and eight than two or three that the games before it based their designs on, but that's fine. I'm really enjoying the bonus modes they added like balloon rush mode, for example. They serve as a good way of quickly practicing all the levels while still providing some variety by adding or removing obstacles and adding time pressure. I'm just glad there are replays you can download from the leaderboards. I was a bit disappointed with the overall level design. There's a few too many instant death traps, which can get rather frustrating. Some of the

frustration is alleviated by the fact that you can buy items in the shop, but ideally levels should be enjoyable without them. This is, of course, a problem that goes away the more you play the game and learn the levels, but on the first play-through, it can be rather harsh. My second complaint is about the soundtrack. It's just mediocre through and through, which is not the expectation I have of a Mega Man title. So, yeah, I'm on board with this.

I do feel like upon playing these stages for the first time, they can be really demoralizing, and you will immediately want to jump to another stage just because, you know, it is a lot of just learning and being punished and being sent back and having to repeat a lot. So, yeah, I totally am on board with that. Yeah, I mean, that was part of my level design complaints and the live system. Lives are just, unless you design your game specifically around the concept of lives, they're just dated. Like, that's been a big complaint of mine with the new Super Mario Brothers games for a long time. A lot of them, you know, you have to beat like a fortress or a castle in order to be able to save or unlock something in the world map.

So if you're new to Mario, those games get really hard, really fast, and all of a sudden you're like, oh, well, I'm getting sent back five stages because I didn't beat this very difficult fortress. And I feel like that's a huge deterrent for the new audience. Meanwhile, like, experienced Mario players rack up so many extra lives that it's just kind of pointless. So, like, what purpose are they serving? And I'm really glad that Mario Odyssey finally ditched lives

because they're an old idea that doesn't work anymore. And I wish Mega Man 11 had done the same. Shovel Night did. Come on, guys. Get with it. yacht club games knows what's up. This composer did compose music for Monster Hunter, which I think has good music.

Maybe she just wasn't into the Mega Man mindset. The Mega Mind. The Monster Hunter has like kind of a very different atmosphere, and if she's kind of doing music for that, it doesn't translate quite the same for Mega Man. All right, from Kevin Boyer, I missed the exploration of the later X games. Not that I expected it for Mega Man 11.

It is just noticeable when playing it alongside the Mega Man X anthology. The gear system does make up for it. I dig the history behind the device, along with Wiley and Lights backstory. It still finds a way to make me want to throw my controller. Blast Man is giving me some problems. So, mission successful. This is an interesting perspective from Cosmic States, who says, I never grew up with Mega Man as a kid.

So my first Mega Man game was, in fact, Mega Man 9 in back in my first year of high school. I was immediately hooked, and it quickly became one of my favorite franchises. Unfortunately, my timing and getting into the franchise couldn't have been worse. as within a couple of years, we'd witness its apparent death. After Mighty Number 9, I was ecstatic at the announcement of Mega Man 11, but also somewhat cautious. Another classic sequel felt too safe, and I would say the game still feels this way overall,

though after being dormant for eight years, this might be necessary. It helps that the double-gear system wasn't a gimmick as I initially feared, but instead added much-needed variety. The gameplay is otherwise Mega Man as you know it, which feels great. As for the soundtrack, it's overall not quite as memorable or reaches the same heights as earlier games. Additionally, while I still hold 9 and 10 in high regard, I was happy to see 11 drop the 8-bit look. It was cool at the time, but the series shouldn't keep drawing from the same well.

Overall, I'd say the game was pretty great, and I'm hoping that the revival truly sticks. And this is Bob speaking now. I think it's interesting that people walk away with a very different opinion about the gear system. Yeah, I noticed that. There's no consistent opinion on it. So that's kind of weird. I would call this a divisive game, a controversial game perhaps. It is a very controversial game.

I love it or hated sort of game. A mixed bag. All right. So from Justin de Lester, this is the last of the males I have, Mega Man 11 is a welcome step forward for me. It's nice to see Capcom move from the ape and try to do new things with the formula. This is one of the better-looking 2.5D attempts.

Double gear is a great shake-up. Now bring back my real love, Mega Man X, if you can keep the quality up. So there we go. Positive and negative opinions. Yeah, across the board Just like with the gear system I don't think there's any sort of consensus

Is there like a Metacritic A Metacritic is the Lord of All Opinions So we should consult it Besides who lives and who dies Who should be hired and fired I'm honestly I really don't know I've never looked it up

I'm just checking it out now Yeah 80 80 on Metacritic That's not bad That's not bad it's green That means no one got fired According to people on forums

It's the worst game ever like anything lower than like a 95 Metacritic is garbage 82 for PS4 so it's just like in the low 80s I guess so I guess Switch fans are just more cynical What's the Xbox 1 score

Did anyone even even review it on Xbox 1 That's a good question What the Mega Man 3 PC Oh Actually it has a lower score on Xbox 1 77% and then on PC it's 79%

I feel like there should be Yeah so that does work out to be about 80 overall yeah yeah okay 8 out of 10 is like

the default video game score too All right. So we've talked a lot about this game. Talk a lot of trash. And also some positive. I stick up for it. I still stick.

I'm glad Nadia has stuck up for it. Hopefully we're not shouting Nadia down or stonewalling her. I don't feel like we are. No. I mean, we're giving... No, no, it is like a... It's not like you can sit here and say you're totally wrong about this and you're totally wrong about that. As we see in the reader mail, you either really

are fine with the gear system or you just think it's everything that Mega Man shouldn't stand for. So, yeah, I understand it's a divisive game, but for myself, I just really enjoyed it, and I feel like what Capcom, you know, they're kind of in an awkward spot where they have to revive this series. You have a whole bunch of fans you have to please, but you have to bring in newcomers as well. So I think as a compromise, Mega Men 11 is a very good game and I really enjoyed it. It was actually one of my favorites this year. So, you know, for myself, I've been negative on this game, but it's not out of, like, some sort of preconceived grudge.

I was very excited to play this game, and I held out until just recently to play it because I wanted to just, like, sit down and really give it my attention. I didn't play demos. I didn't read spoilers. I didn't watch videos. I was just like, I'm going to go into this game fresh. So maybe that's my own fault.

Maybe if I had known more about what this game was, I'd have said, oh, okay, well, now I know what to expect but I was I was expecting I guess something that was you know like a fresh take on the classic formula in in certain ways that it's not and maybe that's on me but you know I I respect the fact that you enjoy it Nadia because you definitely know this series so if you like it like you have great reasons for doing that and you see something in it I don't and that's cool everybody gets a And again, like, I feel like I need to spend some more time in this game, give it another shot.

You know, having seen how people play it in their superplay videos, it's very different than the way I play it. So I need to stop approaching it so much as a classic Mega Man game and be like, okay, fine, I'll use your stupid gears. I will say one thing I really like about this is that the weapons, the robot master weapons, have genuine utility in a way that they don't in a lot of Mega Man games. like the best Mega Man games, you want to switch around to your different weapons. I feel like the only weapon that isn't super useful is Blast Man's with the sticky bombs. Yeah, those seem kind of, yeah.

It's like, okay, well, you know, anytime you get a bomb character in there, like Crash Man or Bomb Man or whatever, it's always kind of like, eh, who cares about this? But all the other weapons, like, I love that Block Man's blocks, which fall from above,

are great at hitting enemies that are shielded from the front. There's a lot of enemies like sniper Joes that are normally really hard to destroy. But now you have a few options to hit them from behind. You have the blocks that can hit from them from above. Or you have the Fuse Man's sparks that race around the floor. And if you can line up things correctly, you can actually hit sniper Joe's from behind and bypass their shield. So you have a lot of options for using your weapons here.

Some of the areas where you have to ride around on platforms while things are taking pot shots at you, those are annoying. But if you have the acid shield, it becomes a lot easier. So you just need to know, like, what weapons to use. In addition to using the year system, you also need to make use of the robot master weapons. So, again, I'm feeling like maybe I didn't play this game right, and maybe if I revisit it, I will enjoy it more. So anyone who's listened to this and said, damn you, Jeremy Parrish, for being such a, negative Nelly. It's not a lockdown decision.

I'm open to changing my mind. But my first impression, after spending several hours with the game a few days ago yesterday, also, I'm just like, I'm not feeling this. So anyway, final thoughts on Mega Man 11. Are there things that it improves on from the previous games and are there things that it needs to do better? Nadia, you are positive. So let's hear what you have to say. As I said, I think a lot of the design decisions to Capcom made was because they were in that unavailable position

where they had to, again, please, hardcore fans and bring in newcomers. But it's interesting that you're talking about, like, coming into it from a totally fresh, totally virgin perspective. And that's kind of what we did when we were kids, wasn't it? We took the game off the shelf. Maybe we read about it a bit in Nintendo Power. But nowadays, you have that hype cycle.

And, like, if you... I kind of knew what to extract from Mega Men, 11 going into it because, of course, I played the demo. I watched previews. So maybe I was a little more prepared for it. But you kind of had a valid position as well, just coming from it, taking it off the shelf, because people still do that on occasion, I'm told. So, yeah, it's just been a very interesting conversation with you.

As for improvements, number one, make the next game an X game. Yeah. And I probably will. I hear thankfully this game has sold quite well. I think it's sold over a million already, which is like, you know, that magic number, especially for, you know, a niche game like Mega Man kind of is. And, yeah, I guess we've talked about some of the things that could do to improve, for example, giving agency to the player whenever they want to continue, taking the good parts from Shovel Night instead of the bad parts from Shovel Night and other really good platformers like that. The double gear system, I like it and I see what they were doing with it. they just decided to do away with it

entirely next time, I'd be like, oh, I guess that's a shame, but I wouldn't cry. So I'm very wishy-washy on what they do with that. But overall, I enjoy it. I don't know if I call it my favorite Mega Man. I still think that's Mega Man 3, but it's up there.

I have a few thoughts, actually. Okay, Bob. Share your thoughts. My final thoughts in this game. I've been processing it all and why I don't like it that much, but I think it boils down to a lot of what Jeremy was saying, and some of my own thoughts, too, of course. but I do feel like my play-through of this game,

my attempts to play were just very demoralizing, and that's why it was not a fun experience. And this has nothing to do with, like, this gear system, I just feel like, God, if only there were more checkpoints, if only there weren't lives, just a few minor changes like that, surface-level changes like that. I would have really enjoyed this game a lot more,

and I do want to give it a chance, but my experience was, you know, barely making it to a boss, losing, and then saying, I don't want to do this again, and then going to another stage and doing the same thing, in that stage, just like never making any progress. And I feel like it just was so demoralizing just to play for so long and not really achieve anything.

We're also kind of, just to cut you off there, sorry, I'm just thinking we're all kind of a little bit older. It's been a long time since the last Mega Man game, and we don't really, like we don't have summer breaks to sit there and go through those stages all over again. So we have to kind of give a shout out to the fact that we're all a little bit older. We have things to do. We don't have that patience anymore.

And I think that really factors into maybe some people's just like of the game as well. Yeah, you can make a difficult game and I'll play it, but just to erase my progress at this point in my life, I feel like, I've done this too much. I now know how long I will live and I want to make use of that time.

I'm not dying, by the way, I just let everyone know. I just feel like, oh, my time is way more valuable now, especially because I have less of it to play games. But yeah, I feel like, God, just let me make progress. Let me achieve something by putting all this time into the game, and that's ultimately why.

why it was demoralizing. And I want to go back and play it more, maybe thinking about that gear system more, maybe even bumping it down to, like, baby difficulty just to make progress. I mean, I was playing it at normal. Maybe I'm not ready for normal. Yeah.

Yeah, honestly, casual is kind of the same, just with more checkpoints. I think as we're older and have things to do, that's totally valid to just kind of say, you know what? More checkpoints for me. It's a grown-ass adult mode. Yeah.

It is. Like, I don't have time for this crap. Yeah, I finally kind of, you know, I think I've expressed my, my feelings pretty well. I would like shorter levels. I would like, you know, more quality of life considerations for some dated design conventions that just don't really belong in games anymore, at least if they do belong in games,

again, it needs to be designed specifically around those limitations. I would like for the graphics to feel more cohesive. There's a lot of, I feel like this game is full of individual elements that just don't quite gel. And most of all, I want the game to feel better as I'm playing. It just feels so sticky and laggy the way that the Mega Man legacy collections did. And I know that's not how those games feel because I play them on original hardware all the time. And I wish Mega Man 11 felt like playing N-E-S on, or playing Mega-Man 2 or 3 on N-E-S on a CRT as opposed to feeling like, you know, playing the Legacy collections on Switch. Like, that really is important.

to me is having that responsiveness and that speed. I just need that because otherwise it doesn't feel right. And these games especially because I know Mega Man's so well in I'm so, like, I'm so accustomed to how they controlled on their original hardware.

And that sounds so snobbish and I'm really sorry about that, but it's true. It's just like I've played so much of this. It's really hard for me to go and expect, you know, to be happy with something that plays differently and that is less responsive. So, those are my complaints, but, you know, I will say, despite all of that, there's a lot that I like

about Mega Man 11, but maybe most of all, it's personality. Like, I just love the new characters that they came up with in terms of, like, just random, generic enemies. It's so rare that you have people revisit a series like this and add new stuff to the pantheon of generic MOOC monsters and make them work. I love so many, like the little dudes in a blast man stage, who ride the roller coaster cars around as the mid-boss? They kind of look like, you know, Bosco or like, you know, 1920s black and white cartoon characters,

and they have these, like, kind of goofy little voices. I love those guys. They're so great. And I love just how much thought they put into the new additions to, you know, minor enemies that are just cannon fodder that you normally just plow through without thinking about them. But there is a lot of personality in Mega Man 11. And I really, really like that. I really think they nailed that.

I think they nailed it with the bosses. Like someone mentioned, you know, or Tunderman, who is like a robot who decided I'm going to be an evil figure skater. That's great. It just like it feels like every enemy here has kind of their own personality. And they've done that, you know, they did that with Mega Man 8 especially. But I feel like it really pays off here. And having the multiple phases where some of the bosses get faster, some of them get stronger, some of them change form. Like, it's very interesting and keeps things kind of fresh and unpredictable.

And again, you know, I feel like if holistically the game worked together, you know, all of its parts came together a little more effectively, I would really love this game. But as it is, there's just like bits and pieces that I'm like, oh, this is great. This is just what I wanted. And then the rest of it's like, boy, it's not quite there. But there's potential. And I really feel like if they listen to me, Mega Man 12, we'll be. be so good. Just listen to me, Capcom. I know everything. I'm always right. But don't hire Jeremy. We need him for this. Don't hire me. Well, you can do it as a consultant. That's fine. But anyway, yeah, so

that's kind of where I stand. Like, almost great, but just not there yet. But, you know, New Super Mario Brothers. The original New Super Mario Brothers was not great either. And I took a lot of heat for reviewing it and saying, eh, it's not quite there. But I think people have come around to that perspective now. And, you know, I think it's easier to come around to that perspective because the follow-up games, the other New Super Mario Bros. have gotten better and better. And the Wii one is the best Mario Game ever. And just imagine how good it's going to be on Switch. Jesus, like, it'll be the best game ever. Nothing will ever be that good. But no, like, I feel like, you know, New Super Mario Brothers, the original had that problem where it was like a team that hadn't really

done this before, kind of working in, you know, trying to figure out how do we reinvent this classic series for this style of game for the like the modern conventions and it didn't quite work the way I wanted it to with the first one but with each generation they've done a better job of it and they eventually nailed it so I like that comparison this is new Mega Man yeah like if Mega Man if Mega Man 14 is as good as new Super Mario Brothers you holy crap that's going to be a hell of a game thankfully all the enemies aren't dancing I like that I will die for those dancing so sick of it. That's a hill worth dying on it. Anyway, so, yes. I guess any final thoughts, or should we just do the

outroes? I guess we're kind of running out of time. So, Nadia, who the hell are you? Where we can find? Where can we find you? You have strong opinions that are positive about Mega Man 11, and that's interesting. So tell people where to find you on the internet. You can damn hell find me on USgamer.net. I am a staff writer there, and I do a whole a bunch of writing about retro games, so I kind of fit here. I'm also part of the Acts of the Blood God RPG podcast with Kat Bailey, and we post it every Monday, so please listen to that. You can find me on Twitter at Nadia Oxford, and that's all one word, and I mostly just like do things like lose my freaking mind when they announce things like Joka for Smash. All right, and Bob?

Me. Hello, I'm Bob Mackie. Thanks for listening, by the way. I have two other podcasts. They're all about old cartoons, so there's Talking Simpsons. It's a chronological exploration of the Simpsons. And there's What a Cartoon. That is a, we look at a different cartoon from different series every week. Those are both available wherever you listen to podcasts. But if you want even more podcasts, we have a Patreon at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. Check that out.

If you sign up, there's a ton of exclusive bonus podcasts that you've never heard, exclusive series, hours and hours and hours of bonus stuff. If you want to support us at that network, please do. It's great. And we love doing it. So it's Talking Simpsons and What a Cartoon. And I'm on Twitter as Bob Servo. And finally, I'm Jeremy Parrish. You can find me on Twitter as GameSpite.

I am one of the co-hosts of this here podcast, Retronauts, which, much like Bob's other podcasts, you can support through Patreon. Patreon.com slash Retronauts. And you can also support the video projects I've been doing at patreon.com slash gamespite, just like my Twitter handle. They are all about old games, classic games, and your contributions get you early access to these things, higher bit rates, no app. etc., etc. It's really cool. You should check it out. Retronauts can be found at Retronauts.com at like on YouTube, not YouTube.

iTunes, that's the one. Yes, iTunes. You can find it on the iTunes. And you can find us on Twitter and Facebook and so on and so forth. And in my spare time, I am senior creative director at Greenlit Content doing things that are related to video games, sometimes journalism, sometimes not. check out the company's stuff at places like greenlit content on Twitter or gamedaily.biz or I don't know.

There's all sorts of stuff that I'm helping out with these days. But that's in addition to Retronauts, which continues to be my precious little baby. I will never let Retronauts go no matter what I do with my life. So thanks for listening. Thanks for supporting us. And I apologize if we hurt your feelings with our feelings or with our opinions about Mega Man 11. But like I said, there's room for a turnaround. So we'll give it another shot and see if we can bring our way of thinking around more in line with Nadia.

Nadia, thank you for joining us. And we'll be back in a week with another podcast. Thank you.